Wire-fence fabric.



PATENTED SEPT 6, 1904.

GE FABRIC.

, .1902. RENE ED NOV. 9, 1903.

I m m IEV. LFM E j WIR APPLICATION FILED no MODEL.

Patented September 6, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS LITWILIJER, OF TREMONT, ILLINOIS.

WIRE-FENCE, FABRIC.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 769,223, datedSeptember 6, 1904. Application filed N ve bfi 15, 1902. Renewed November9, 1903. Serial No. 180,396. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,-

Be it known that I, THOMAS LITWILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Tre-= mont, in the county of Tazewell and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Fence Fabrics;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription ofthe invention, which which it appertains to make and usethe same. This invention has reference to wire fenclng. The object oftheinvention is to providea wire fence formed of body-wires andselvagewires, and connected or intertwisted with the. body and selvagewires are wire stays that bear diagonally to the body of the fence andare intertwisted with the selvage and body wires ,where they intersectalternately -inopposite directions.

. The invention has for its further object a fence which is durable andcheap at first cost and that may be and is produced by a machine whereinthe fabric is continuously drawn out and reeled without interruptionduring the feeding of and intertwisting the stay-wires with thelongitudinal wires forming the body of the fabric.

'Figure 1, drawn to a small scale, shows a strip of fencing embodying myimprovements as it appears when placed in the field. Fig.

2, drawn to a larger scale, shows more clearly the detail constructionof the fence and is a section from Fig. 1 bounded by the dotted lineshown in such figure.

The fence comprises what will be hereinafter known as the selvage-wires1 and the body-wires 2, arranged at suitable inter- Vals apart from eachother intermediate the selvage-wires to present a uniform or graduatedmesh, as may be desired, and 3 indicates stays, preferably of wire,spaced at suitable intervals apart and'adapted, as shown, to beintertwisted with the selvage and body wires, which together comprise myimproved fencmg.

Attention is called to the selvage-wires 1,

will enable others skilled in the art to end wires.

which I have shown as twisted cable-strands; but it is to be understoodthat the selvagewires may comprise each a single wire of suitablestrength in proportion to the heft of the body-wires common in allfences.

In making the fence,-which iscontinu-ously fed from the machine,producing a finished productwithout interruption, which ordinarilyoccurs at intervals after placing each stay, the bobbins which; carrythe wire comprising the stays are fed across the selvage and body wiresobliquely or diagonally to the longitudinal bearing of these wires, andhence shows the stays bearing in diagonal lines, presenting arectangular meshhaving horizontal top and bottom wires and sloping orslanting By this mode a seriesof carriages are provid ed. carryingbobbins, each containing a spool of wire which forms the stay, and

the carriages will follow each other at intervals apart, moving acrossthe body and selvage wires, and successively cause their stay-wires tobe intertwisted with coinciding body and selvage wires alternately inopposite d irections for example, follow the first complete staywire 3to the left of Fig. 1, leading from the lower selvage-wire 7 It isintertwisted with the selvage 1 at a a portion of its length. It is thenled diagonally to the adjacent bodywire 2 and intertwisted therewith, asat b, in

.a directionopposite to thatshown at a; The

wire 3 is then led diagonally to the next adjacent body wire 2 andcontinued to be so led until it coincides with the upper selvage-wire 1,with which it is intertwisted or wrapped around, when the wire is outshortly after the spool leaves the selvage, leaving the free end of thestay directed longitudinally, as at 4. The appearance of the stay-wiresat the bottom ofthe fence will be the same as at the top or upper end,and the stay just referred to as itis brought coincident with eachsucceeding, body-wire is intertwisted therewith inoppositedirections,,-as at a and br,that is,

the stay-wires are intertwistedwiththe bodywires in opposite directionsbyleading the RBI-sense) the finished-product, as shown in Fig. 1,

said stay-wires first over the body-wires and then under the same, asseen in the figures, which is accomplished by rotating the twisters ofthe carriages first in one direction and then in an opposite direction.By following each stay from left to right the intertwists appear inopposite directions, but follow a series of twists in a diagonal linefrom right to left, crossing a series of stays and body-wires, and thetwists all appear similar.

Attention is now called to the body-wires which are slightly drawn outof horizontal line where the twist is made with the staywires occasionedby the peculiar manner in which the stays are carried. The twists slantin one direction, while that portion of the body-wires intermediate thetwists, as at a, slant in an opposite direction. Attention is alsocalled to the variations in the slant of the stays or that portion ofeach stay intermediate or connecting the body and selvage wires. Theslant is greater where adjacent longitudinal wires are closest and lesswhere they are farthest apart. However, the exact incline or diagonalposition of the stays may be modified, as also the arrangement of thebodywires, and it may be convenientinstead of twisting both the body andstay wires where they are coincident to twist only the stay around thebody-wires,or vice versa, or twist the stay andpartially twist thebody-wire, all of which, it is believed, will come within the scope ofthe invention. The alternate stays, beginning with the second, havetheir twists with the selvage-wire just opposite to those of the firststay. This is occasioned by the fact that these stays are not introducedinto the fence until after the preceding stay-wires and their carriagesare coincident with the lowermost body-wire. A series of carriages .areemployed and ushered into use in this manner until the carriage carryingthe first-mentioned stay has passed the upper selvage-wire and caused tobe twisted therewith its stay, when it assumes its position with thelowermost selvage and each step of the process carried out ashereinabove set forth. In this way adjacent stay-wires where theyareintertwisted with a body or selvage wire will be in opposite directions,not only vertically, but longitudinally. (See Fig. 2.)

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A wire-fence fabric, composed of bodywires and selvage-strands, ofstay-wires extending obliquely across the body-wires from selvage-strandto selvage-strand and at each succeeding point of intersection with theselvage-strands and body-wires twisted therewith alternately over andunder, substantially as described.

2. In a wire-fence fabric, the combination of a series of body-wires,and stay-wires, extending obliquely across the body-wires from selvageto selvage the twist of adjacent stays with corresponding body-wiresbeing alternately over and under and having the twists measured alongthe body-wires in the same direction, substantially as described.

3. In a wire-fence fabric, the combination of a series of body-wires andselvage-strands, stay-wires extending obliquely across the series ofbody-wires and twisted with adjacent body-wires alternately over andunder, and adjacent stays twisted with corresponding body-wiresalternately over and under and having the twists measured along thebodywires in the same direction, substantially as described.

4. In a wire-fence fabric, the combination of a series of body-wires andselvage-stramls, staywires extending obliquely across the body-wiresfrom selvage to selvage and twisted with adjacent body and selvagewires, alternately over and under and having the twists of the stays andbody-wires measured along the body-wires in the same direction, andshort longitudinally-presented extensions of each stay where they aretwisted with the selvage-strands, substantially as described.

5. In a wire-fence fabric, the combination of a series of running-wires, of stay-wires bearing obliquely across the running-wires andtwisted with the running-wires where they intersect, the twist of thestay-wires as they bear diagonally across the fabric from left to rightbeing alternately over and under and having their twists uniform in aline bearing diagonally across the fabric from right to left,substantially as described.

6. In a wire fence, the combination of a series of body-wires andselvage-wires, staywires intertwisted with the body and selrage wiresand alternate stay-wires where they intersect with the body and selvagewires being inter-twisted therewith alternately over and under, thatportion of the body-wires where they intertwist with the stay-wiresinclined slightly out of horizontal, while that portion of eachbody-wire intern'iediate each twist is inclined slightly out ofhorizontal but in an opposite direction to the incline of the twistedportion.

7. A wire fence, composed of body-wires and selvage-wires, of stay-wiresextending across the body-wlres from selvage-wire to selvage-w1re andeach stay at each succeeding point of intersection with the selvage andbody wires twisted therewith alternately over and under, thestay-sections between the selvage and body wires bearing in obliquelines and always in advance of their twists with the lower selvage-wireand behind their twists with the upper selvage-wire, substantially asmime-wires and measured along corresponding described. 1 running-wires,substantially as described. IO 8. In a Wire-fence fabric, thecombination In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in ofrunning-Wires, stay-Wires extending obpresence of two Witnesses.

5 liquely across the running-Wires, adjacent THOMAS LITWILLER.

stay-Wires Where they intersect with corre- Witnesses: spondingrunning-Wires twisted therewith al- CHAS. W. LA PORTE,

ternately over and under both across the run- H. B. SGHNEBLY.

